ANNIVERSARY QUIZ

Mention 8 out of 10 committee member of 10th anniversary tagged D'MANIGLO. Send your answer to englishchapel.csmcottaroad@gmail.com or 08184552069. The first correct answer will win N1,000 recharge card regardless of your network. More to come

In all, be faithful

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU FAIL?

What do you do when you fail — when you sin — as a child of God? Here are four precepts straight from God's Word that will give you understanding for your particular situation.

First, remember what Jeremiah wrote of Israel after her greatest failure and judgment — a judgment that led to the destruction of her temple and her holy city:

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I have hope in Him."(Lamentations 3:19-24) There is hope because God is God.

Second, recognize that God did not restrain you from failing either because you deserved to fail since you did not choose to obey Him, or because He wanted to teach you something, to cleanse you, make you more like Him. It is part of the discipline, the "child-training" of those who belong to the Lord. (Hebrews 12:11-13)

Third, if it is moral failure, do as David did in Psalm 51. Throw yourself on God's mercy, on God's grace. Cry...

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. (verse 1)

Say...Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.... Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. (v. 10 and 12)

And from verse 13, know there is still a future for you (if not, He would simply take you home!).

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.

And finally remember...

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God. You will not despise. (v. 17)

Fourth, like the Apostle Paul who realized that he had not attained (he had not hit that measure of perfection), you need to say with him,

...forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:13-14)

Those who keep looking back at their failures will never win the race set before them. We can evaluate where and how we failed for the purpose of learning and growing; however, the past is never to be our focus. If it is, it will cripple our future. As we look at failure, we need to understand why we fail and when we fail.

We fail when we try to do something we are not capable of doing, not gifted in or talented in. Therefore, it is important, as Romans 12:3 tells us, not to think more highly of ourselves than we should think. We need to take an honest and objective look at ourselves and recognize our limitations.

We also fail when we try to do it "our way," when we don't follow and live by God's precepts, His commandments, or when we think we are smarter than God, or don't need to involve God...this time. Multitudes are failing in their family lives, relationships, parenting, ministry and even in providing for their loved ones because they haven't studied God's textbook for life. Thus they do not know God or His ways. The will of God is discerned by knowing the Word of God (Romans 12:1-2). We need to put ourselves on the altar and tell God He can direct us any way He desires. The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.

And closely connected to that point — we fail when we walk in presumption. Like the children of Israel in Numbers 14, some think all that is necessary is to confess that they have failed and then they can have it the way it would have been had they not sinned. When you choose to cheat, realize that you will eventually get caught — " ...be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).

So having said all this, what do you do when you fail?

1. Run to God and ask Him why, if you do not know.

2. If God shows you that you failed because you erred or sinned, confess your sin or your failure. Name it for what it is. Then make it right with God and with man, if necessary. It helps to clear the air.

3. Throw yourself on God's mercy. Ask His counsel.

4. Remember the character of God. Remember His promises — cling to them. You have His promise if you cling. Psalm 119:31 says "I cling to your testimonies; O Lord do not put me to shame." The secret to recovering from failure is to continue to cling to your God. We are here to teach you to cling to Him...and not let go. I urge you to go deeper into His Word during remaining months in this year. Number your days, discipline yourself to be a man or a woman of the Lord. When the test, the trial or the temptation comes, you can overcome. "...This is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith" (1 John 5:4).

GOD, OUR PRAISE

Oh God, you know every blade of grass that grows, every sparrow that dies, every act and thought of the seven billion people here on earth. The hundred billion stars are yours and you made them, and you watch them, and the vastness of space and the countless galaxies, you know. You know our coming in and our going out, our thoughts and dreams and schemes, our countless little sins and lies, our kindnesses and our cruelties, our prayers and our curses.

Your knowledge is utterly beyond our comprehension, Lord. And yet, despite all of this, you have promised to know us, to be with us, to listen to us and help us and, if we only ask for it in the name of your Son, to forgive us when we offend you.
We praise you above all else, Mighty God; for the wonderment of your existence and the unfathomable size and complexity of your creation. And above all, our love and obedience are yours; We give them to you now and forever, in gratitude for your greatest gift, the sacrifice of your blessed Son, Jesus Christ


Thank you God for a new month.

DELIGHT IN BEAUTY OF HIS HOLINESS

When we praise and worship the Lord , we will experience victory in our battles.God inhabits the praises of His people. When we praise and worship Him , His presence will descend among us and the presence of God will fill every situation that we are facing and we will experience certain victory in all our battles.When Jehoshaphat was a facing a great battle he proclaimed a fast and sought the Lord with all his people. The Lord heard their cry and promised them victory . Then Jehoshaphat sent singers and worshippers ahead of his army . As they praised and worshipped the Lord, the Lord caused the enemies to fight each other and destroy themselves. When we praise and worship the Lord in times of battle , the Lord will cause confusion in the camp of the enemy and make them destroy themselves. The Lord will grant us a glorious victory

OPENNESS

This is the one thing we desperately need the most, and the one thing we most resist. We need support. Some things in life are just too hard to do on your own. We need people to come along side of us and encourage us. Whether you are dieting, or exercising, or trying to change a bad habit in your life—we all need people in our lives to support us, encourage us, and to ask us some hard questions about whether we are really following through on our commitment to change. This is going to be hard when it comes to our finances.

• 82% of us have never discussed our income with another soul.

• 89% of us have never discussed our family budget with another person.

• 92% have never discussed what we have given to the church.

Get this: The people who are least likely in this country to talk about their personal financial matters are Christians.

People who rarely go to church—1 out of 4 of them admit that they have talked to their friends about how much money they make. Do you know how many Christians have done that? 1 out of every 8

Christians don’t talk about this. In fact, we don’t talk about a lot of stuff that really matters in our day to day lives: Sex, money, parenting, jobs. Let’s pop the top off our dirty little secrets and start holding each other accountable. Let’s start encouraging and edifying one another; life and money troubles are just too hard to go at it alone.

It is important in the spiritual life to keep an open mind, open to ideas, experiences, people, the world, and the Sacred. Openness is an ability to go with the flow, as Taoism puts it, without expecting predetermined outcomes. It means being receptive to new possibilities, without prejudging them. It is an ability to make yourself available to out-of-the-ordinary opportunities. Indeed, openness to the unknown, the exotic, and the bizarre is usually seen as the mark of a free spirit.

How available are you to others? How interested are you in people, especially those quite different from you? How flexible are you? Do you usually think you already know how things are going to come out? Are you willing to try something new? These are the questions to ask to assess your openness and to determine the benefits you might derive from this practice

WHY PEOPLE QUIT CHURCH?

Why do people leave church? This is the question I have heard discussed quite a bit recently with some of my friends both in the Church and office. I thought today’s youth of Cherubim and Seraphim Churches are only people leaving their church but it is a worldwide issues. A senior brother looks at the activities going on in the church and said; Brother, it is time to leave.

I got worried.

I started to search for more information then I got this write up by Benjamin L. Corey on WHY PEOPLE LEAVE CHURCH?

1. People leave church when they don’t find Jesus.

Church of all places should look like Jesus! Church should be a place where people are busy loving the unlovable, embracing the outcast, serving the widow, immigrant and fatherless. It should be a place where power is rejected, gender and race is irrelevant, and where the most coveted position is the position of servant.

I think we need to just start being honest with ourselves and admit that a lot of people reject our churches because they’re too interested in Jesus to accept a counterfeit version.

When I look at the story of Jesus, I am consistently moved by the way people were attracted to his personality. With the exception of religious conservatives, everyone longed to be around Jesus and went to great lengths and great risk to spend time with him. I am convinced that if we built loving communities of faith that were raw and authentic, that embraced the excluded, and were known by how well they loved others, there wouldn’t be an empty chair in the sanctuary.

2. People leave church because they feel lonely.

The feeling of being excluded, by definition, creates an intense loneliness. Being one of the only people living raw and authentically in a quest for community, is a lonely feeling. Being the one person who can’t, in good conscience, sign onto the same statement of faith that the group has, is a lonely feeling. Watching cliques form as an outsider, and watching people who rise to esteemed positions by way of church politics, is a lonely feeling.

People leave church because they start to feel like an outsider, and that makes them lonely. It is an emotion that is painful, powerful, and given enough time, unbearable. If leaving church is what’s needed to stop feeling so lonely and to stop feeling like an outsider– they’ll do it (and it would be the right decision).

 3. People leave church because they’re looking for something authentic.

The word authentic means: “not false, but real… therefore reliable and trustworthy”. Ironically, I can think of no more authentic message than the loving and very real message of Jesus.

However, the way we often live that out is far from authentic. In scripture we see authenticity being something God loves; my favorite characters in the Bible are the people who were raw and who told God exactly what was on their mind, minus a filter. These are the people, such as David, whom God calls “friend”.

Yet, church often becomes a place where you want to be anything but real. It’s just not safe to do so- especially with people who are busy pretending they have it all together but still seem to have enough time to be your worst critic.

People want to do church with people who are real, people who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable in relationship, and who are willing to sit beside you in the messiness of life. When church feels fake and like it’s not a safe place to be vulnerable, people leave in hopes they’ll find someplace that is.

 4. People leave church when they feel like they need to become a carbon copy of an individual or ideal in order to be fully included and appreciated.

During the times when I have found myself church shopping online, one of the first things I look at is the church’s statement of faith. This isn’t so much because I care about what they believe (although, I obviously do) but because I want to know if I’m going to be required to be a detailed copy of everyone else to be accepted. When I see a ten-page statement of faith the spells out everything from “Who is God” to “Why we believe the rapture will happen next Tuesday”, it tells me that there will be no room for me to live, breathe, or be my own person– my acceptance will depend on whether or not I am a carbon copy of everyone else.

People want to be who God made them– they don’t want to be a carbon copy of who God made you. When we feel forced to fit into a predetermined mold as to what a member of this community must look like, we leave (or in my case, I don’t ever go to begin with).

Most people don’t want to be like everyone else, and when a certain culture tells them they must become a clone as a condition of acceptance, many will leave instead of submitting to such a dehumanizing experience.

5. People leave church because of controlling leaders and unskilled teachers.

Leaders make or break an organization, and church is no different. When the pastor or church leader(s) come across as controlling (whether it is real or perceived) it creates an environment that doesn’t feel safe to people. No one wants to be controlled or dominated in church– not even the people who assimilate and eventually tolerate such environments. Instead, people want to feel heard and included in issues of decision making and long-term vision. Too often, it seems like the kids who are picked on in high school either become cops or pastors so that they can control other people- and they become increasingly intoxicated with their own perceived power. When people like me smell this, we bolt.

Likewise, you can have a church with a great community and a loving pastor– but a pastor who happens to be differently gifted outside the realm of preaching, and lose people. The longest 45 minute blocks in my life have been when I have been forced to sit and listen to a person fly the plane around the pulpit ten times, without ever landing. Bad preaching is miserable. If people feel like the preaching sucks, they’ll leave in search of something else. We need to make sure we place people in positions to serve in accordance with their abilities AND passions, not just their passions.

6. People leave church because of unresolved conflict.

As mentioned above, any community is going to have conflict. However, a healthy and life-giving community is one that practices healthy conflict resolution in order to keep relationships safe and whole. Some churches do a fantastic job at helping individuals reconcile their differences in loving ways which deescalate and restore, while others have skewed ideas of what reconciliation looks like. Too often, wounded people are told, or are caused to feel, as if their emotional response to being wounded is somehow wrong or sinful. We can be encouraged to “forgive and forget”, “get over it”, or even told we have “no right to feel that way”. We fail to realize that wounded people need to have their feelings validated, and need to have a place to air their hurts in a way that causes them to feel heard. If we want people to stop leaving church, we need to develop radical humility and become the peacemakers that Jesus claimed would be blessed.

7. People leave church because they need less drama in their lives.

 I don’t know about you, but my life always seems to have enough drama in it– I certainly don’t need anything that is going to add to the drama factor. So often, people seek out church because they need a reprieve, a refuge from the emotional drama of day to day living. However, far too often church relationships find a way to add to your drama. Now, I get that we’re all imperfect and that any group will have their own conflict, but some churches seem to do drama more than others. Our jobs, family dynamics and friendships provide us with enough opportunity to be gossiped about, back-stabbed, and pushed to the margins- we don’t need to add to that. Church needs to be a safe place where one can escape the typical relational drama we all face and instead experience loving support and acceptance. When church just becomes another area that is going to add drama to my life, I need to cut the cord and move on for my own sanity. Which leads me too…

8. People leave church when they can’t find community.

This is one of those reasons where it can serve as a reason why people come to church in the first place, and also becomes a reason why they leave– people want community. So many of us are tired of doing life on our own, tired of plastic American relationships, and are looking for deep, loyal, and authentic communal relationships. This should be a central goal of churches– building community. Why? Christianity was never meant to be lived out in the context of isolation, but rather in the context of community. When people can’t find community, can’t plug-in or access meaningful relationships, they split in hopes they’ll find it somewhere else. When a church learns to do community well, it is a life-giving experience. When churches fail to build community, church just becomes another item on your list that sucks the life out of you. I have experienced church both ways and can honestly say that I’m finished investing emotional energy into churches that don’t build a culture that values authentic community.

TODAY, TODAY,TODAY AND TODAY

Today is the most important day of my life. Yesterday with its successes and victories, struggles and failures is gone forever. The past is past. Done. Finished. I cannot relive it.  I cannot go back and change it. But I will learn from it and improve my Today.

Today, This moment, NOW, It is God’s gift to me and it is all that I have. Tomorrow with all its joys and sorrows, triumphs and troubles isn’t here yet. Indeed, tomorrow may never come. Therefore, I will not worry about tomorrow. Today is what God has entrusted to me. It is all that I have.  I will do my best in it. I will demonstrate the best of me in it—my character, giftedness, and abilities—to my family and friends, clients and associates. I will identify those things that are most important to do Today, and those things I will do until they are done. And when this day is done I will look back with satisfaction at that which I have accomplished. Then, and only then, will I plan my tomorrow, Looking to improve upon Today, with God’s help. Then I shall go to sleep in peace…content.

As I reflect on this poem, these are the questions that I ask myself:
• What have I learned today?
• Did I accomplish what was most important today?
• Did I give my best today?
• Have I been a good steward of the gift of today that God has given to me?

Following is an excerpt from my life plan and my personal vision for the important aspects of my life:

• Spiritual - Seek daily to live as a fully devoted follower of Christ
• Marriage - Translate my unconditional love for my wife into irrepressible actions that fulfill her “love languages”
• Children - Love and honor my children and do my best to raise them so that they become thriving adults and lifelong friends
• Ministry - Use my spiritual gifts and abilities to impact others and be a catalyst in other’s spiritual growth
• Relationships - Build healthy relationships with others for the purpose of sharpening and encouraging each other
• Career - Give my absolute best, be a leader worth following and seek to impact the lives of others
• Personal Growth - Seek to grow daily as a person and be committed to life-long learning
• Recreation - Live deliberately and fully enjoy each moment of life so that when I die I will have squeezed the most possible out of life and have no regrets
• Finance - Be a great steward and invest and give with incredible wisdom and generosity
  I’ve learned that the only way that I’ll be able to fulfill the above vision for my life is to be incredibly focused on maximizing each day.  So, are you maximizing each “today” that you have?
  
  We’d love to hear about how you are maximizing each day. Share with us below or on englishchapel.csmcottaroad@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing your best practices and learning from you.

THE BENEFITS OF LISTENING TO GOD'S VOICE

Numbers 22: 12-22
Often we wonder, "Can I really know the will of God for my life?" The Bible teaches us many facts about hearing God’s voice. Let’s take a look at just one example that helps us learn about the benefits of listening to God’s voice.

It was the perfect will of God that Balaam NOT go with the men of Moab. But Balaam disobeyed God’s voice and went with them. When he did he was walking in disobedience to what God had revealed to him was His will for Balaam to do...not to go.

Vs. 17 Balak’s offer of riches tempted Balaam so he went to God...a second time. God had already given His answer. But, Balaam wanted a different answer. Because of Balaam’s evil heart of greed, God was angry and let him go and do what he really wanted to do. How many times do we go to God and ask and ask and ask again for something He has already answered or showed us His way for us to go? But, we have a certain answer we are hoping for. Maybe we’re like Balaam and are led aside by our own desires or maybe we lack interest in what God is asking us to do. Balaam sought God, but, he wasn’t really seeking God’s will. His heart wasn’t in it. In his position, it would be expected of him. He was performing his role. Have you found yourself in that position? A believer, so, of course, you go to God when you
need something, but, at the same time your heart isn’t really looking for what God will say... you already have an idea of what you will do...what you will say...where you will go.

Through failure as well as success, the believer is learning to hear God’s voice. Through both positive and negative experiences he is continuing his growth in understanding the principles of a God-directed life. This is liberating. This frees us and assures us of a more joyful life. The will of God becomes a challenge of learning to align your life with His plan. Balaam’s journey resulted in a series of trying encounters with Balak which could have been avoided if Balaam had obeyed God’s voice and never gone in the first place. There are many examples in God’s Word that teach us it is best to obey God the first time He speaks to us. Jonah never would have experienced the inside of a whale’s belly, the Israelites wouldn’t have wondered for 40 years if they had taken the Promise Land the first time they were instructed to.

There are some facts we should know about God’s will that will help us to understand it is the absolute best for us:

1. He wants you to know His will (Eph. 5:17)
2. His will is planned
3. His plan is individual and personal for each person (Ps. 139:16)
a. Bible confirms this by showing us He placed men in specific situations at exact times for special purposes
4. His will is not man’s way (Is. 55:8) My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways
5. His will is good
6. God’s plan is continuous
We are His workmanship--He is constantly working in our lives, He desires to make you complete

Where does your walk fit in? Do your steps line up with God’s? Or are you going your own way (upward dash)? If that is you, I encourage you stop; realize that you are going in an opposite direction from God’s plan for you. Today you can turn back to God and start walking in step with Him. You can line up the lights of your life’s ship to see clearly the way to go. If you’re ready to do that, stand up. Let’s tell God we see that we are going in the wrong direction and we want to come back...we want to hear His voice once again in our lives and follow His leading.

PRETENDERS II

If you’ve ever led people, you’ve come across followers who would rather act the part than do their part. On the surface, they appear to be productive members of the team. But if you look closely, you’ll see cracks in their façade. These people are pretenders. Pretenders do everything they can to look like players. In fact, they’re motivated more by appearing productive than by being productive. With them on a team, momentum suffers and relationships are compromised. They can’t be trusted to do the work, because they’re so focused on how they appear.

Fortunately, there are subtle ways to tell a player from a pretender. Here is some guiding principles: Pretenders look the part, talk the part, and claim the part, but fall short of fulfilling the part. Here are some other specific differences:

1. Players have a servant’s mindset. Pretenders have a selfish mindset.
Players do things for the benefit of others and the organization, while pretenders think only of benefitting themselves. Pretenders are narrowly focused only on outcomes that are in their best interest.

2.  Players are mission-conscious. Pretenders are position-conscious.
Players will give up a position to achieve a mission. Pretenders will give up a mission to achieve a position. For players, the success of the mission is much more important than their own place within it. But pretenders will value their position more highly than just about anything else.

3. Players can deliver the goods. Pretenders only promise the goods.
Players are team members who can be counted on to finish a task every time. Pretenders will always claim the ability to do so; but in the end, they do not consistently execute.

4. Players are job-happy: they love what they do and do it well. Pretenders are job-hunters: they can’t do what they do where they are, but they think they could do it better somewhere else.
For players, the work is fulfilling and meaningful, and they are devoted to doing it well. Pretenders are so focused on appearing competent that they cannot always be competent. And again, because of the focus on appearance, pretenders won’t admit fault when mistakes are made. Thus, they believe that problems are the fault of the workplace, not of them.

5. Players love to see others succeed. Pretenders are only interested in their own success.
I think we all start out as competitors, but the goal is to grow past that. In my adult life, I have evolved from competitor, to personal achiever, to team player, and on to team builder. A player is happy when another member of the team succeeds, because it benefits all. The pretender sees success as a win-lose proposition, and resents it when another person “wins.”

6. Players value integrity. Pretenders value image.
For ships, the rule is that the part that’s under the surface should weigh more than what’s above the surface. Otherwise, a ship will be top-heavy and capsize in a storm. Integrity is like that: what’s under the surface has to be greater than that which is in plain sight. A player can be counted on to do the right thing even if nobody is looking. Pretenders may only do the right thing when others are looking, and whatever is expedient when others are not.

7. Players make the hard choices. Pretenders make the easy choices.
With a hard choice, the price is paid on the front end; the payoff only comes later. Few people gather to affirm the hard choice, and it almost always includes risk. And the hard choice usually places others and the organization above self. Players make those decisions. Pretenders avoid them, because the risk outweighs the acclaim.

8. Players finish well. Pretenders fade out.
Some people start as players, but turn into pretenders. Why? I believe it’s because they make the choice to begin, but get tired of the work it takes to continue. Or they begin and proceed until they are confronted with the need to change. Unwilling to do that, they begin pretending in order to get by. A player takes all tasks to completion

PRETENDERS

Acts 17: 13-15, Luke 22:54-62

Have you ever wondered why some people pretend to do the will of God but are really using it as a cloud to cover over their personal ambitions? A pretender is a person who falsely professes to be something that they are not. Pretenders cleverly find ways to stretch the truth for their own advantages. Doing things in the name of religion has caused numerous wars, skirmishes and conflicts throughout history. The Jews in this passage tried convinced everyone they were doing the will of God by whipping up opposition to Paul and the gospel. The Jewish zealots continually agitated the crowds against Paul. They thought they were doing God a favor. Not only were their motives wrong but also their understanding of God’s truth. Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap of trying to carry out your personal agenda under the guise of doing the will of God. Ask the Lord to expose pretenders for what they are as a warning to everyone.

Pretenders wrongly think they are defending truth when they are actually discrediting themselves. The Jews failed to realize that they were condemning themselves by their pretentious words, attitudes and actions. Paul wrote, “You can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.” (2 Cor. 13:8) Ask the Lord to help you work for the truth by the virtues of your personal lifestyle, through your relationships and in your ministries.

Pretenders tend to deceive themselves about what is profitable. The Jews failed to realize that they were not fighting against Paul, but against God and His truth – what losers! Ask the Lord to help you avoid living with any trace of pretension.

Pretenders will go to great lengths to mask their mistaken notions. The Jews sent religious persecutors sixty miles from Thessalonica to Berea to persecute Paul. They spared no expense to thwart Paul and his ministry of the gospel. Do not become alarmed when pretenders go to any lengths to discourage you from doing all that God requires. Ask the Lord to help you prepare yourself with Biblical response to all the attacks that will come from the pretentious.

Pretenders usually act out of fear, ignorance or anger. Try not to take the attacks of pretentious people personally. Most of time, pretenders are trying to unload their deep-seated dissatisfaction, disillusionment or despondency on others. Pretenders lack a real sense of purpose and connection to the truthful one. Ask God to give you the grace and wisdom to not over-react.

Do not allow pretenders to deter you from accomplishing all that God wants you to do. Paul did not hesitate to move ahead with God’s plans for His life – amidst great persecution from the Jewish fanatics. Most wars are won when the other side becomes demoralized. Do not give into their pretentiousness. You are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you.

TODAY'S WORD 09 MAY 2014: WHICH ONE: INSURANCE OR ASSURANCE?

I have asked people before about their relationship with the Lord and I hear replies like. I think I will go to heaven. I hope I will go. I want to go. But I am here to tell you today that it is the desire of God. Not hope, not wish, but know where you are in your relationship with God. So today for those of you who are not sure of the answer then my prayer is that you will know Him. “How will I know?” So let me give you some things so that you will have the assurance that you have or you can be saved.
There was a time I can remember when I was growing up in church singing a song called “Somebody touched me”. And in this song they would sing, “happened on a Monday somebody touched me”; and they would repeat each day of the week and you would stand up on the day that you were saved. And the last verse would say, “Happened on someday, somebody touched me”. That verse was the one that I would stand up and sing.
When the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus one night, Jesus told him that you must be born again to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus being confused thought He was talking about a physical birth. But just like you know your birthday, you know that one day your mom gave birth to you. You didn’t think you were born, you didn’t hope you were born; you know it. And everyone here has a physical birthday, and everyone must have a Spiritual birthday as well. 1 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
How do you know that you have been saved? There will be difference in your life. Now as I shared with you, at the age of ten I was not an ax murderer, but I can assure you that I knew that difference between right and wrong. But my difference was not as much of an outward difference but an inward one.
But there will be a difference. You cannot receive the Holy Spirit and not have a change. That is the reason that when someone walks down the aisle and says the words, and then leaves and never comes back to church and go out and lives like the dickens, then I would question the sincerity of the conversation. They might have said the words, but they never received the words.
Now just because you get saved does not make you exempt from sin, we all stumble and fall. But we will no longer be able to sin and not feel guilty about it, because we have the Holy Spirit living in our lives. There will be evidence of that change.
How do I have assurance of my Salvation? Even though our works does not save us, our works are the evidence of our Salvation. 1 John 4:15-16 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

If you have been saved then you will want to do things, (works) because you love Him and you want to please Him. And one the ways you can do that is by getting baptized. All through the New Testament, we read about when someone accepted Christ that they would almost immediately get baptized. Now baptism does not save you nor is it a requirement to be saved. The thief on the cross did not come down and get baptized, but yet Jesus told him, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise”. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change.

You see if you can remember the time that Jesus came into your heart and life and there has been a change in your life, not that you will not sin but there will be evidence of that change, the you have no reason to doubt your relationship with Christ. Jesus said in John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. And when you come to Jesus with ASSURANCE that you are a child of God, then become a ‘shouting Christian’ rather than a ‘doubting Christian’.

Do you know Him today? Do you have assurance or are you relying on your insurance? Will you come to Him today?

TODAY'S WORD 08 MAY 2014: WHICH ONE: INSURANCE OR ASSURANCE?

Do you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”? I battled with this word when I joined Insurance Company. Both words sound very similar and have similar meanings. One of the definitions of both is a guaranty. Assurance is a guaranty of your word and Insurance is a guaranty of payment. The same, yet different.

I have assurance that if certain people tell me that they will do something that I don’t have to worry about it. Their word is all I need. This is a quality that we all should have, especially those of us who profess to be Christians. And I have insurance; lots of insurance. I have life insurance, car insurance, house insurance(yet to be completed), and health insurance. They guaranty me compensation if anything were to happen to my possessions or my family or me. But the one huge difference is that assurance is not based on anything I do. Insurance has everything to do with what I do. Insurance was only good as long as I paid my premiums. And like a good neighbor, the only way that the insurance company will be there for you, is if you pay the bill. If you don’t pay your bill, then your insurance will be cancelled.

Therefore, do you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”? Do you have assurance that if you died today that you would end up in Heaven with our Lord and Savior or do you have insurance, thinking that as long as you do the right things that you will end up in Heaven.

Let me answer the insurance question first. I read recently that according to a survey taken in 2001, only 30% of the people surveyed believed that there is nothing we can do to earn your salvation. That means that 70% of the people surveyed thought you could get to heaven on your own. And in that same survey, 50% of professed Christians believe that they have to be good or have to do something to earn their way to heaven.

Reminds me about a story I heard about a boy named Billy. Little Billy, caught in mischief, was asked by his mother, "How do you expect to get into heaven?" He thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I’ll just run in and out and keep slamming the door until they say, ’For heaven’s sake, either come in or stay out.’ Then I’ll go in."

We cannot do anything to earn our way to heaven. Like you have heard me say before, there will be a lot of good people who will not make it to heaven. And I think that is where a lot of people make the mistake. They think that all I have to do is live my life the best I can by doing the right things and being the best person that I can be. But that is not what the Bible says. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There is nothing you can do. You can pay your premiums with your good works all you want, but that’s not going to get earn your way into heaven. There is only one way to get to heaven. And Jesus paid that premium in full by giving His life on the cross for our sins. When Jesus tells His disciples that He is going away to prepare a place for them and Thomas ask Him how do we get to this place? How do we get to Heaven? And Jesus replied in John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
...to be continued

TODAY'S WORD 23 APRIL 2014:PRAYER CHANGES THINGS

Matthew 7:7
I read a book which tell a story of a young boy who wanted $100 very badly in USA. He prayed for a long time, but nothing happened. Undaunted by the lack of response, he wrote a letter to God presenting his request once again.

When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to “God, USA,” not knowing what else to do, they decided to deliver it to the President. Mr. President was interested in the letter enough to instruct his secretary to send the little boy $5. He thought this amount might be enough to encourage such a young boy.  And indeed, the little boy was delighted with the $5 bill. He sat down immediately to write a thank-you note to God. This too was forwarded to the President. It read: “Dear God, Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you sent it through Washington DC and those guys deducted $95 in taxes!” While I can’t claim that this story is true, you have to give the little boy credit for persistence in putting his prayers before God, and his faithfulness in believing that it was man, and not God, who had messed up the answer.

Our prayer lives have a tendency to cycle. Sometimes we are good at praying, laying our requests at God’s throne and listening and waiting for His answers. At other times, it is more the case that our prayer lives are dead or dying. We don’t pray with the faith or persistence of that little boy, and we don’t have his faith that God will answer.

For some of us that is because we’ve never really come before God in honest prayer. For others, it is because our prayer garden needs some weeding and watering to remove the complacency and nourish our souls. If we can turn our prayer life around, I believe we will see that prayer changes things.

Whatever your current situation is, Jesus has some words of encouragement for you today. 

Peace be unto you

TODAY'S WORD 22 APRIL 2014:PRAYER

Prayer:

There is no weapon formed against prayer that can neutralize it. Some things can delay answers to prayer, but nothing can stop the full purpose of God. "Though it tarry, wait for it."

The first requirement in prayer is to believe.

-Believe that God is and that "he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

-Believe that God is alive and therefore has power-not only for Peter's deliverance, but for ours.

-Believe that God is love and that He cares for His own.

-Believe that God is power and therefore no power can stand against Him.

-Believe that God is truth and therefore cannot lie.

-Believe that God is kind and that He will never abdicate His throne or fail in His promise.

Reflecting on the story of Peter, I am rebuked, humiliated, chagrined, stung. Why? Because there are some great modern saints, Watchman Nee for one, who for years have suffered and been held captive by communists and others. Many of the saints today are shut up in prison.

Such perils to other members of the Body demand concern, concentration, and consecration to a committed plan of prayer on their behalf. I fear that prayer has not been made to God without ceasing for these suffering kinsmen.

We Christians are in captivity on many levels today personal, domestic, church, and missionary enterprise. But fetters break and dungeons fall when prayer is made by the church unto God-

-Prayer without ceasing;

-Prayer that might shatter our status quo;

-Prayer that drains us of every other interest;

-Prayer that excites us by its immense possibilities;

-Prayer that sees God as the One that rules on high, almighty to save;

-Prayer that laughs at impossibilities and cries, "It shall be done";

-Prayer that sees all things beneath His feet;

-Prayer that is motivated with desire for God's glory.

The praying of the believer can become a ritual. The place of prayer is more than a dumping ground for all our anxieties, frets, and fears. The place of prayer is not a place to drop a shopping list before the throne of a God with endless supplies and limitless power.

I believe the place of prayer is not only a place where I lose my burdens, but also a place where I get a burden. He shares my burden and I share His burden. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." To know that burden, we must hear the voice of the Spirit. To hear that voice, we must be still and know that He is God.

Happy Easter.